Some Tennis Players Like it Hot

Temperatures Reached 108 Degrees Fahrenheit at The Australian Open on Tuesday

Temperatures reached 42.2 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit) at the Australian Open on Tuesday, not a tournament record, but hot enough to make Peng Shuai vomit and Frank Dancevic faint.

Former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki said her plastic water bottle melted.

"In this kind of heat, it's very dangerous," said Jelena Jankovic, who took a heat-induced tumble in her first-round victory when her shoe stuck to the court. "It's almost like the sole of your shoes is so hot that it's kind of burning, like your foot is glued to the ground. This is unbelievable."

ENLARGE

Tennis fans cool off at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Tuesday.
European Pressphoto Agency

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Victoria Azarenka, the defending champion who struggled at times but won her first-round match, said she felt like she was "dancing in a frying pan or something like that."

Yet the heat had little effect on results. There were six retirements and one withdrawal, none of them immediately confirmed to be heat-related.

Some players didn't even seem to know it was hot. Milos Raonic, who won in four sets, said he had more trouble with the breeze than the heat. Kei Nishikori, who won a five-set match in three hours and 41 minutes, said the heat and humidity of Brisbane, where he played earlier this month, was much worse. "It wasn't too bad, actually," he said Tuesday.

Roger Federer, who won his first-round match in straight sets as new coach Stefan Edberg looked on, said the Australian Open shouldn't bother with its heat policy, which allows stadium roofs to be closed in extreme conditions.

"I think it should always stay open, honestly," Federer said. The roofs remained open Tuesday.

Tennis is, of course, not a terrible sport to play in the heat. There are no helmets or protective pads. There are plenty of stops and starts. Players can rest in the shade between games with ice-filled towels. They can take bathroom breaks and call for medical timeouts.

Still, doing anything in this kind of heat is painful. Even watching tennis was often too much to ask. The crowds were thinner than usual, and many fans fled for the shade in the afternoon.

Then there was Lleyton Hewitt, playing his 18th consecutive Australian Open. The former No. 1 absorbed as much heat as possible, playing four hours 18 minutes before losing to No. 24 seed Andreas Seppi, 7-6(4), 6-3, 5-7, 5-7, 7-5.

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